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Chapter 3
Promising Practices in Work Supports
Public, private, and nonprofit agencies and employers have adopted numerous strategies to make work supports more accessible for low-wage workers. Many of the sites that MDRC and the NGA Center visited have made progress in particular areas, such as simplifying work support application procedures or providing job retention services. The challenges are to coordinate these supports and services across agencies and to bring relatively small efforts to scale. In addition, because few if any of these practices have been formally evaluated, there is little research evidence to guide practitioners. Although local policies and procedures may vary widely, the programs highlighted below provide examples of how states and localities have used four key strategies to ease the administrative burdens associated with work support programs and to promote participation among low-income working families:
- Aligning eligibility policies across work support programs
- Simplifying and aligning application and recertification procedures
- Expanding access points
- Launching outreach, marketing, and educational campaigns
Each section describes examples of how states and localities have addressed a particular aspect of access to work supports. Table 3.1 presents additional examples.
Aligning Eligibility Policies
States and localities can ease access to work supports by capitalizing on flexibility in policies governing eligibility for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food stamps, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and subsidized child care. Often the first step in easing access to such supports has been to align some aspects of eligibility criteria — such as vehicle limits and family asset tests — to make them uniform and complementary across programs.1 States may also conform to the definition of what counts as income in the Food Stamp Program with TANF cash assistance and family Medicaid. States and localities are somewhat more limited in setting income eligibility levels — especially with food stamps — and, at any rate, they often choose to stagger income cutoffs across programs, creating a continuum of coverage for low-income families and avoiding “income cliffs” that cause families to lose multiple benefits when their income increases. Alignment of asset policies and additional definitions of income can help ease administrative burdens for both applicants and welfare departments, and this approach can help create a cohesive “package” of programs that support working families.
| Focus/Organization | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Aligning eligibility policies State of Ohio |
Ohio eliminated the vehicle asset test across all work supports. Further, the asset test for savings was eliminated for all work support programs except food stamps. Income limits are graduated across programs, with family Medicaid available up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, child care available up to 150 percent, and children’s Medicaid available up to 200 percent of poverty. |
| Simplifying and aligning application and recertification
procedures State of Utah |
Utah developed a 10-page combined application for TANF, food stamps, Medicaid, and subsidized child care, and it also produces pre-populated renewal forms that are sent to recipients at required intervals. Additionally, Utah has implemented a document-scanning system that stores images of required supporting documentation (such as driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, and birth certificates), which are then accessible to eligibility caseworkers across programs. |
| Expanding access points State of Washington WIA One-Stop Centers in Alameda, Sacramento, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, and Ventura Counties, California; Ohio; Utah |
In Washington, applications for work supports are available via
the Web and can be printed out and mailed in for processing or can
be submitted directly online. Eligibility determination is not automatic:
Welfare staff must review and approve applications and then schedule
in-person interviews when required. Recipients can also complete and
submit renewal forms online. To expand access to the state’s
diverse ethnic populations, applications have been translated into
some 30 languages. These One-Stops colocate welfare eligibility staff on-site at career centers, though staff in several locations noted that eligibility workers primarily targeted welfare recipients utilizing One-Stop services. Existing relationships between WIA and TANF have the potential to be expanded to capture a broader population of the One-Stops’ low-income clients. |
| Outreach and marketing campaigns Louisville Asset Building Coalition, Louisville, KY The TJX Companies, Inc., Framingham MA |
This Louisville coalition launched a citywide effort, involving
banks and service providers, to advertise free tax preparation services.
Using billboards, posters, advertisements on buses, and inserts in
Kentucky Fried Chicken food orders, the coalition seeks to help low-income
residents learn about and file for the EITC. Building on this campaign,
the coalition’s goal is to help individuals build wealth and
assets. TJX, an international retailer, engaged in an employee outreach campaign led by the Human Resources Department (“TJXtra!”) to encourage employees to file for the EITC and Advance EITC, fuel assistance, SCHIP, food stamps, Fannie Mae financial education, and local supports such as discount transportation. Employers like TJX promote access to work supports and market them as an extension of the employee benefits package. |
| Outreach and marketing liaisons with public agencies Fayette County Community Action Agency (FCCAA), Fayette, PA Seedco, New York |
FCCAA staff have been cross-trained to look holistically at families’
needs, including eligibility for work supports, and assisting clients
in determining eligibility for programs. Any client who walks through
the door can meet with a caseworker to connect with any of FCCAA’s
programs. Staff assist clients with application forms, and they use
a computer system linked to the county welfare office to submit email
applications for food stamps. Besides being selected for this pilot
project by the welfare agency, FCCAA is also in the process of securing
an agreement to access the agency’s database in order to determine
the status of applications. Seedco, a workforce intermediary, trained its CBO partners to help clients in the EarnFair program apply for work supports. The partners are pilot-testing a facilitated access program to help clients file accurate applications for child care subsidies and to expedite processing in lower Manhattan. Case managers routinely inform clients about work supports, assist in completing the necessary paperwork, and serve as liaisons with the local welfare office to ensure that benefit applications and renewal forms are processed in a timely manner. |
The State of New Jersey, for example, aligned its vehicle
asset limit and other asset tests for both TANF and the Food Stamp Program,
raising the latter’s vehicle asset limit to $9,500; and it eliminated
the asset tests altogether for Medicaid, SCHIP, and subsidized child care.
Income limits are staggered across programs so that some level of benefit
is available for families whose incomes range from 51 percent to 250 percent
of the federal poverty level.
Simplifying and Aligning Application and Recertification Procedures
States and localities can also focus on simplifying the administration procedures for work supports. Renewal or recertification periods can be aligned and made longer to reduce the frequency of contacts or of submitting forms; application forms for different work supports can be combined; and face-to-face interview requirements can often be waived. Technology such as document-imaging systems can facilitate information-sharing across programs and can also reduce paperwork by producing pre-populated recertification forms.2 Many states have shortened their applications or renewal forms and use them for multiple programs.
The State of Washington uses a four-page combined application for TANF, food stamps, Medicaid, and SCHIP. The state also uses a consolidated eligibility review form and has aligned the recertification periods for TANF, food stamps, and Medicaid. Child care applications and reviews are handled entirely by telephone.
Box 3.1 gives more examples of how states are using technology to simplify client procedures and to improve case management and program features.
These programs use technology to support case management services in innovative ways, to improve service delivery and client tracking both before and after employment. Postemployment Case Management Tools
Benefit Screening and Online Applications
Combined Approaches
|
Expanding Access Points
Realizing that welfare offices need not be the only locations where low-income families can apply for work supports, many states and localities have undertaken creative efforts to increase the number of access points for such programs in low-income communities. Access can be expanded by:
- Making application forms available online, either to be printed out
and mailed or to be submitted directly via the World Wide Web
- Establishing call centers for programs that do not require face-to-face
application interviews
- Creating such online tools as a Web-based “eligibility calculator”
to help potential clients determine whether they might be eligible and
to provide information about application procedures
- Outstationing eligibility staff in One-Stop centers, faith- and community-based organizations, schools, clinics, and other locations throughout the community3
Working in consultation with government agencies, the national advocacy organization Community Catalyst, in Boston, has developed a rules-based system called RealBenefits™ that uses technology to expand access to work supports. Computerized tools enable staff in community-based and nonprofit organizations as well as in county and municipal agencies to calculate clients’ potential eligibility and to print application forms for work supports and other benefit programs. Application forms for multiple programs are pre-populated with previously gathered data common to all programs, and completed forms are then printed out from the RealBenefits system and are either faxed or mailed to the relevant agencies for processing. Staff at sponsoring agencies can act as liaisons between their clients and government eligibility workers. Real-Benefits can also be used to file applications electronically, and Community Catalyst is working with government agencies in two states to develop workflow systems that include electronic applications.
Launching Outreach, Marketing, and Educational Campaigns
In their efforts to get the word out to low-income families about the availability of work supports, some public agencies have engaged community-based organizations, community action agencies, nonprofit intermediaries, and employers to get involved in outreach, marketing, and educational campaigns.
For example, through the Delta Initiative, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has partnered with the National Organization of Black County Officials and the Internal Revenue Service to increase the number of welfare recipients and working-poor families who file for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The project’s sites include low-income rural and some urban areas in seven states in the Mississippi Delta region: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. The partners have focused on educating local officials about the financial benefits that EITCs can bring to their communities and on building local capacity for outreach, including:
- Forming local coalitions of public officials, community- and faith-based
organizations, labor unions, and private employers
- Creating public service announcements, training videos, print materials
(distributed via utility bills, school nurses, and other means), advertisements
(on fast-food trays and city buses), and media events
- Opening new Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites and training staff across the partners about outreach and tax preparation
HHS plans to expand this program to include the 10 large metropolitan areas participating in its Urban Partnership Initiative, which focuses on building local capacity to serve welfare recipients. It is also exploring the use of mobile tax preparation services for rural areas that lack VITA centers and other free tax preparation services through a partnership with Historically Black Colleges.
Conclusion
Work supports can provide a financial cushion for low-income working families who are striving to maintain employment. The working poor may also face a wide range of nonfi-nancial employment barriers. Chapter 4 highlights promising job retention and career advancement services to help low-wage workers stabilize their employment and move into higher-paying jobs.
1 Many work support programs place limits on the monetary value of vehicles that a family can own at the time of application - referred to as "vehicle asset tests" - as well as limits on such financial assets as savings and retirement accounts. (back)
2 A "pre-populated form" is one that is partially filled out with a recipient's/client's personal information taken from previous forms. (back)
3 Outstationed staff should be available at the alternative sites as often as possible, to maximize clients' access to staff and services. (back)
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